star wars - Coruscant's Hyperspace Coordinates

As per Why is Coruscant the galactic center?, I commented on the oddity of Coruscant being designated (0,0,0) in hyperspace coordinates. A little knowledge of coordinate math tells us that this means Coruscant is at the center of hyperspace, the coordinate system of which is assumed to be a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. Obviously, being designated the origin would make Coruscant especially important.

However, why was Coruscant designated the origin of the hyperspace coordinate system? A skimming of Star Wars hyperspace history states that hyperspace travel was originally developed by the ancient Rakatan, who used Force-powered drives to establish the Infinite Empire. Later, technological and Force-independent hyperspace drives were reverse-engineered from this technology by the Corellians and Duros.

Assuming that the hyperspace coordinate system was arbitrarily conceived by the creators of hyperspace technology and not divinely mandated by some unknown power, why would the first civilizations to develop hyperspace technology not place the origin at their own centers of civilization? Why is (0,0,0) placed at Coruscant and not Lehon (the birthplace of the Rakata), Corellia, or Duro?

Answer

The choice of origin of a coordinate system is indeed an arbitrary choice. As there is no absolute spacetime frame of reference I assume that is even less the case for a coordinate system related to Hyperspace.

With Coruscant playing such an important role at the time where this coordinate system you mention is used, it seems natural to proclaim the origin to point to Coruscant, especially considering such a diruptive change in technology (away from force-based travel to technology-based travel).

In response to the comment one should add that force-based travel probably never institutionalized a coordinate system - this is based on my understanding of the Force in that other means than using a mathematical construct would be used to identify the target of a Hyperspace travel.

Comments

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